Male orange-tip nectaring on bluebell Maytime in England, with bluebells, butterflies and the call of the cuckoo.
There are banks of intense blue amidst fresh green bracken fronds in Kentmere, whilst in Brigsteer Wood bluebells fade and flag.
My first cuckoo of spring, at last. His call reaches us across the valley, soft waves of sound, like an echo. He becomes distinct and all morning he calls, on and on, the voice of May.
Bluebells, butterflies and the call of the cuckoo- these are the rites of spring, a rhythm and pattern I celebrate.
Through the years, through the seasons, I know and love this place. I chose today hoping to reprise an interlude with damsels and demoiselles in the bracken above Kentmere Tarn. Last spring saw weeks of rain, this year there has been none here since early April. But the woods feel fresh and verdant and bluebells are still in flower when elsewhere they faded weeks ago.
Today's highlight is the cuckoo. I am delighted to hear wood warbler but the call of the cuckoo is the motif of the morning and he is our herald all along the dale to Kentmere Hall, and back again. The energy of the bird, he deserves breeding success.
We see damsels and demoiselles but they are fitful, rarely settling. Butterflies dance all along our route to Kentmere Hall. By the time we return it is hot and sunny, scarcely a butterfly to be seen. Chance is a fine thing, now you see them, now you don't.
Today's highlight is the cuckoo. I am delighted to hear wood warbler but the call of the cuckoo is the motif of the morning and he is our herald all along the dale to Kentmere Hall, and back again. The energy of the bird, he deserves breeding success.
We see damsels and demoiselles but they are fitful, rarely settling. Butterflies dance all along our route to Kentmere Hall. By the time we return it is hot and sunny, scarcely a butterfly to be seen. Chance is a fine thing, now you see them, now you don't.
There were micro-moths flitting through the vegetation, including a lovely black and white moth I didn't recognise. A few peacock butterflies and red admiral. But most abundant were green-veined whites and orange tip.
Our track led into woodland, out into sunny bracken slopes, back into woodland. There was still a trickle of water beside the track, dried-out channels of beck and water-track flowing down to Hall Beck and the RIver Kent.
The enchantment of the morning is somehow in secret lives; the wood warbler singing high in the canopy, the unseen cuckoo, and butterflies dancing in sunlight against the shadowy woodland fringe, elusive.
Our track led into woodland, out into sunny bracken slopes, back into woodland. There was still a trickle of water beside the track, dried-out channels of beck and water-track flowing down to Hall Beck and the RIver Kent.
The enchantment of the morning is somehow in secret lives; the wood warbler singing high in the canopy, the unseen cuckoo, and butterflies dancing in sunlight against the shadowy woodland fringe, elusive.
A red admiral alighted on my friend's hand, probably seeking human sweat with its micro-nutrients.
Approaching Kentmere Hall the track leaves the wood and is bordered by a ditch and a floral embankment that rises to the woodland fringe. Butterflies zip over the bank blue with speedwell, with a few cuckoo flowers and masses of large bittrcress, cardamine amara. There are orange -tipped butterflies and many green-veined whites. A strip of damp mud borders the earthen track and green-veined whites flutter over it and alight to suck up micro-nutrients. This behaviour is known as 'puddling' and I read that 'newly emerged adult males' do this to enhance their reproductive success, to supply them with essential mineral salts. They're so intent on puddling that I stand on the muddy strip and they flutter all about me and alight at my feet.
Approaching Kentmere Hall the track leaves the wood and is bordered by a ditch and a floral embankment that rises to the woodland fringe. Butterflies zip over the bank blue with speedwell, with a few cuckoo flowers and masses of large bittrcress, cardamine amara. There are orange -tipped butterflies and many green-veined whites. A strip of damp mud borders the earthen track and green-veined whites flutter over it and alight to suck up micro-nutrients. This behaviour is known as 'puddling' and I read that 'newly emerged adult males' do this to enhance their reproductive success, to supply them with essential mineral salts. They're so intent on puddling that I stand on the muddy strip and they flutter all about me and alight at my feet.
RSS Feed